Baghdadi claims ‘infidel nations’ are afraid of ‘final war’
By Thomas Joscelyn | December 27, 2015 | tjoscelyn@gmail.com | @thomasjoscelyn
15-12-27 Baghdadi graphic
Supporters of the Islamic State have released images with translations of excerpts from Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s new speech.
The Islamic State has released a defiant new speech by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi. In the new audio message, which was posted online on Dec. 26, Baghdadi claims the West and its allies are afraid of an apocalyptic showdown in Iraq and Syria. He dares the US to wage a ground war.
The “Christian Crusaders and infidel nations,” with the “Jews behind them,” do not “dare come to the land to fight a small group of mujahideen,” Baghdadi says, according to a translation obtained by The Long War Journal.
The “infidels” have “learned that it is the final war, and after it, Allah permitting, we will strike them, and they will not strike us.” Once his enemies are defeated, Baghdadi says, “Islam will rule the world…until Judgment Day.” It is for this reason that the Islamic State’s foes supposedly “delay their arrival as much as possible.”
Instead of fighting the “caliphate’s” soldiers directly on the ground, Baghdadi claims the US and its allies dream of annihilating the Islamic State using “agents,” including “the Awakenings, apostates, the heretic Kurds, and herds of rejectionist cattle.”
The “Awakening” is a reference to the US-backed Sunni tribes that rose up against the Islamic State’s predecessor organization, al Qaeda in Iraq, during the height of America’s involvement in the Iraq war. The Islamic State’s leaders have expanded the term to include even rival jihadist organizations that reject Abu Bakr al Baghdadi’s claim to rule over the entire Muslim-majority world.
Baghdadi acknowledges that his “caliphate” is fighting against the “whole world,” but says no one should be surprised if his jihadists are victorious, because this would be a sign of Allah’s will. He also leaves open the possibility that his followers will “face even greater misfortunes,” as Allah has promised adversity for the true believers.
Baghdadi blasts the recently announced Saudi-led anti-terrorism coalition, which is intended to thwart the “caliphate’s” designs. If the alliance was truly Islamic, Baghdadi argues, then it would have announced its war on the Alawites in Bashar al Assad’s regime and their “Russian masters.” The alliance also should have announced “its disavowal of its Jewish-Crusader masters and made its objective killing Jews and the liberation of Palestine,” according to Baghdadi.
“Stand up against the tyrant and apostate people of [the Saudi coalition] and champion your brothers in the Levant, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan, the Caucasus, Egypt, Libya, Somalia, the Philippines, Africa, Indonesia, Turkestan, Bangladesh, and everywhere,” Baghdadi tells his audience. The Islamic State has either established a presence, or is attempting to, in all of the locations he mentions.
The “caliphate’s” leader insists that all Muslims are confronted by a “Jewish-Crusader-Safavid alliance that is led by America and was devised by the Jews.” From Baghdadi’s perspective, the Crusaders include America, Europe and Russia. Safavid is a derogatory word that is used to describe Shiites and Iran. All of these parties have come together in a coalition to supposedly wage “war on Islam and Muslims.”
Muslims around the globe must support his project, Baghdadi argues, because it is “the spearhead in the conflict between the camp of belief and the camp of non-belief.” He sees “proof” of the “caliphate’s” divine mandate in the fact that “all of the forces of the infidels and apostates in the entire world” have “agreed to wage war on the Islamic State.”
Baghdadi tells his followers that the war between the Islamic State and the rest of the world is necessary, because it will leave the world divided into two camps. In the camp of faith, no hypocrite will be left standing. In the camp of hypocrisy, Baghdadi says, no believer will be found.
Despite the formidable opposition his men face, the Islamic State’s jihadists should be “confident in Allah’s victory.” The more “hardships” the Islamic State “suffers,” Baghdadi claims, the more its “ranks become ever more whole,” “stronger,” and “more resolute.”
Baghdadi knows that his organization has suffered some significant losses in Iraq and Syria over the course of the past year. But he urges his followers to be “patient,” for Allah has supposedly promised them victory in the end.
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/12/baghdadi-claims-infidel-nations-are-afraid-of-final-war.php
